A Leap of Delicious Flavor
by Kkarrie
Summary: Theorizing one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project known as QUANTUM LEAP. Now Sam finds himself in the body of Carlton Lassiter. AU for Tues. the 17th.
1. Chapter 1

_Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project, known as QUANTUM LEAP. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Doctor Beckett, prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was made through brainwave transmissions, with Al, the Project Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Doctor Beckett could see and hear. Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right, that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next leap will be the leap home. _

* * *

The flash of light and disorientation that Dr. Sam Beckett felt each time he leapt was soon gone. He looked around his surroundings trying to figure out where he might have ended up this time. The bedroom he was in was neat, tidy and small. A queen bed was against one wall, a dresser against the other with a mirror over it. The carpet was plain and stubbly. It was the kind you would find in hotels or cheap apartments. Sam walked over to the mirror and look at the reflection of his new body. A scowling face with piercing blue eyes and a strong Irish hair line met him. He looked down to see he was wearing a grey suit with a hideous tie. His shoes were neatly polished. Was that? Yes, it was a gun Sam felt as he patted the holster under his suit jacket. A look at the badge clipped to his belt confirmed that he was a police detective in Santa Barbara California.

"Oh Boy." Sam whispered under his breath and then looked around the room once more. He wandered out into the open kitchen/dining room/living area. It was small too, but everything was orderly down to the magazines sitting on the coffee table. A glance at those gave him a name.

_Carlton_ _Lassiter_

_421 SW Lane Apt. 6_

_Santa Barbara, CA_

Sam sighed as he looked around the room some more. There were no pictures, no inkling this man had a personal life, but there was a wedding ring on his finger. There were a few groceries in the fridge and just like the rest of the house everything was neatly stacked and in it's place. He was looking in the cupboards when something in his pocket vibrated. He jumped a little and then reached in and pulled out a cell phone. The caller ID on the front read 'O'Hara' He opened it and spoke into the mouth piece.

"Hello?"

"Lassiter!" A woman's frantic voice said on the other end of the line. "Where are you? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago and the chief is about to send a search party after you." Sam thought hard trying to find an excuse for being late.

"Umm, yeah just the alarm didn't go off." he said "I'll be there soon."

"Well just hurry up, the chief wants a report on the Miller case."

"I'll be there, if she gets too antsy start without me." Sam said trying to get out of presenting a report he knew nothing about.

"Are you sure?" the woman asked sounding doubtful.

"Yes, now I have to hang up now." Sam said desperate to get off the phone and maybe find Al to figure out why he was here.

"Okay, I'll let her know you told me," and with that there was silence on the line.

"Al?!?" Sam called out to the room hoping the holographic friend he had would be able to hear him. Luck must have liked Sam that day because almost instantly Al appeared. His outrageous suit and trademark cigar were accompanied by his link to Sam, the brightly colored box with buttons that he was punching furiously. "Al where am I?" Sam asked. Al looked up and gave a half hearted grin.

"Well ummm, Ziggy isn't sure yet. We know you're in California and you're Head Detective Carlton Lassiter of the Santa Barbara Police Force."

"Yeah, I already figured that all out." Sam said pointing at the badge on his belt and the address on the magazine. "What am I supposed to fix while I'm here?" Al shrugged.

"We don't know, all you can do right now is go to work. I'm trying to get Lassiter to talk to us in the waiting room, but he's convinced this is all a practical joke by somebody named Shawn Spencer and keeps telling us he's gonna arrest us for impeding an officer of the law." Sam sighed.

"Do you have directions to the police station, because I have no idea where that is?" He asked Al gave him some directions, which Sam scribbled on a scrap of paper he tore from one of the magazines. He also found a small wicker basket on a small table by the door with car keys in it. He went outside to the carport for the apartment complex. In the parking spot in the car port for Apt. 6 was a blue unmarked police car. He followed Al's directions and pulled up outside the police station.


	2. Chapter 2

When Sam walked in no one looked at him twice, they all gave him a curt hello and then hurried to get out of his way. He found his desk, well Lassiter's desk, quickly. It was just as neat as his house had been. He had barely sat down when a nervous looking policeman stood in front of him holding a coffee.

"Here's your coffee Detective Lassiter." he stammered setting the cup down on the desk.

"What? Oh thanks," Sam said scanning the man's uniform for a name. "McNab." he added finding it printed on the pocket. McNab looked startled.

"Oh, ummm you're welcome" he said and then turned quickly and left. Sam sipped the coffee and pulled a face. There had to be four sugars in it. He set it off to the side and started looking at the papers on the desk and in the drawers. One of the large drawers was locked, but a key from Lassiter's key ring opened it. There was a small black book with names and addresses in it, another gun in a case and in the bottom of the drawer he found a file with divorce papers in it.

"That makes sense," Sam muttered to himself thinking back to the lack of pictures at the apartment.

"What makes sense?" a female voice asked. Sam jumped, slamming the drawer shut. He looked up to find a slim, blonde woman in a khaki suit looking at him. Her head was tilted to the side. Without waiting for him to answer she kept talking. "I went over the report with the chief," Sam then recognized the voice from the phone earlier this must be O'Hara. "and she says everything looks good. She also was worried that you didn't show up this morning. Is everything okay Carlton?" O'Hara leaned on his desk.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Sam said.

"I'll say," Al's voice said joining the conversation with Sam the only one privy to his thoughts. "look at her Sam, she's a beautiful girl." Sam rubbing his head as Al started objectifying O'Hara. "Ziggy says she's Juliet O'Hara, Lassiter's partner at the station."

"Well, okay…" Juliet said trailing off. "The chief wants us to go to the Miller house with Shawn after lunch. She wants his opinion on the robbery."

"Okay, fine." Sam said waving her off and pretending to immerse himself in a file. He figured the Shawn she mentioned was the same one Lassiter had mentioned to Al. He kept whispering to Al to hurry up and figure out what he needed to fix before he could leap again all the while pretending to be working. Al promised he would work as quickly as possible, but he had to leave and check on something with Ziggy. Sam found out a lot about Lassiter while he waited for Al, obviously he was a neat freak, but no one came to say a word to him the entire time. When people walked past his desk they gave it a wide berth and only one or two ventured to say hello. Sam stopped paying attention to the time and only realized how long it had been when his stomach started growling. He glanced up and saw a man sitting at O'Hara's desk staring at him. As soon as Sam met the other man's eyes the man started smiling broadly. Sam groaned inwardly as he headed for Lassiter's desk.

"What's up Lassifrass?" he said plopping himself down on top of all the paperwork on the desk.

"Not much" Sam mumbled. The man's eyes widened in surprise and he turned his head to look at Sam.

"Someone got up on the right side of the bed for once today" he said picking up the name plate sitting on Lassiter's desk. "Usually you'd be all 'What the Hell Spencer' or if you were really mad it'd be 'Get the hell off my desk before I shoot you in the kneecaps'" Sam quickly put two and two together and decided this must be Shawn Spencer and Lassiter didn't seem to like him very much.

"That's what I meant." Sam said trying to be gruff and irritated. "Get the hell off my desk. Don't you have to check out that robbery before this afternoon?" Spencer didn't seem to buy his gruffness, but let it drop.

"Lassie you of all people should know that I don't have to go to the scene of the crime. I divine what I need to know spiritually." Sam snorted in laughter. He'd never held psychics or whatever they called themselves in much regard. Apparently Lassiter didn't either because Shawn started going on about how Lassiter shouldn't doubt him, he would find out who really did it.

"Shawn do you really have a death wish today?" Sam interrupted him after he was on reason number five.

"That's the other thing, since when do you call me Shawn?" Shawn asked his eyes still searching Sam for answers.

"I just had a bad start to my day." Sam said getting up and heading the bathroom.

He got into the bathroom and after checking the stalls he started asking for Al. "Al where are you, you worthless hologram?"

"Worthless?" Al's voice sounded hurt. Sam turned to see Al wearing a black suit, with green neon tie and matching pocket square.

"New clothes?" Sam asked him eyeing the lurid garb.

"Yeah," Al said his voice changing to excitement. "Tina helped me pick them out."

"Have you found out anything more about why I'm here?" Sam asked trying to keep Al's mind on the problem at hand instead of his pretty girl friend.

"Well, we did some checking up on Shawn Spencer since Lassiter keeps talking about him. Almost every case that Lassiter has investigated starting three years ago Spencer has helped with. Spencer appears to be employed by the department as a psychic. Lassiter keeps talking about how he isn't and that one day he'll prove it. He also keeps asking for a gun." Sam rubbed a hand over his face.

"Al this could be tricky."

"Hang on that's not it, Ziggy says there's a 40% chance you're here to stop Spencer and his fried Burton Guster from being killed on Tuesday night."

"Al today is Monday. I've got to hang around for another day!"

"Well there's also the possibility that you're here to save Lassiter's marriage on Tuesday night and the weird thing is the chances of that are around 55%."

"Al, when have I ever leapt to save a marriage instead of stop a murder?" Sam said a little exasperated with the situation he was in. The door to the bathroom opened and Shawn walked in.

"Everything okay in here Lassie?" he asked looking around.

"Yes everything is fine." Sam managed to snap at Shawn. The frustration he was feeling about this leap was fueling Lassiter's dislike for the psychic.

"Cool, cool well I was just coming to see who you were being so buddy buddy with, but it appears that you were just talking to yourself."

"Don't you have a job to do Spencer? Sam said pushing past him and out the door. He headed for Lassiter's desk and grabbed the keys to Lassiter's car. He left to get something to eat. There was cash in Lassiter's wallet so Sam wouldn't have to worry about dealing with credit cards. He had made it out to Lassiter's car and had the key in the door to unlock it when O'Hara and Spencer rushed up behind him.

"We thought we'd get some lunch with you," O'Hara said. "and then head out to the robbery scene after that."

"Gus is meeting us at Del Sol." Shawn added. Sam nodded briefly.

"Where are we eating?" Sam asked as he fastened his seat belt and put the car in gear. Juliet gave him ridiculously complicated directions to a Mexican restaurant called El Gatos del Sol. Her directions ended in the phrase 'turn at the bright green rooster that used to be yellow when that place was a Chuckie's Chicken'. There were a few cars in the parking lot of the restaurant and Sam parked next to a small blue Toyota Echo. As the trio got out of the car Shawn greeted the man driving the Echo and Sam decided he must be Gus. They got a table and ordered their food. Sam was busy looking at the menu to see the raised eyebrows of his lunch companions when he ordered the Burrito con Queso with out the queso on top. Sam excused himself from the table and headed for the bathroom. He needed to find out if Ziggy was glitching or if he really was here for Lassiter's marriage and not Shawn's life.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as he left the table Shawn and Juliet leaned forward to talk with Gus about Lassiter's strange behavior.

"Did I mention he called me Shawn?" Shawn asked after Juliet had told them about her phone conversation with Lassiter from that morning.

"Only five other times," Gus whispered back. "Do you think he's finally cracked? I mean he is under a lot of stress and we don't know how his marriage is going."

"Or not going." Shawn finished. "Last time Lassie breathed a word about it, things were heading downhill faster then a fat kid on a luge."

"I still think the weirdest thing was letting me brief the chief on the Miller case file. He's usually so possessive about his cases." Juliet said taking a sip of her water.

"He was also talking to himself in the bathroom." Shawn said. "Speaking of the bathroom, how much coffee did he have? He's been in there for a while."

* * *

"I'm sorry Sam, but those are the numbers Ziggy is still predicting. There's nothing you can do about it." Sam was pacing the small restroom in the back of the restaurant.

"Ziggy has been wrong before." He said. "What do the newspapers and everything say about Spencer on Tuesday night?" Al punched a few buttons.

"Just that he was out at Camp Tikihama and there was some kind of accident and several people were killed including Spencer and his friend Gus. There isn't a lot of information because this is a lot closer to your present."

"What do you mean my present?" Sam asked.

"It's that stupid swiss cheese brain of yours. This is part of your life time, but it's only from a few years ago. You probably don't remember a lot of what happened this time in history." Sam shook his head.

"I doubt it, but a marriage over a life Al? That just seems weird." Al shrugged.

"Just keep your ears open and wait until we get more data. The more you interact with the people around Lassiter's life the more we find out."

"How's the real Lassiter doing?" Sam asked

"He still wants a gun." Gus' head peeked around the door.

"You doing okay in here Detective Lassiter?" he asked his eyes searching the room for another person that Lassiter might have been talking to. Sam put a scowl back on his face.

"Don't interrupt me Gus." He said and then went back out to the table. Gus, Shawn and Juliet exchanged glances, but this time Sam noticed them. "What?" he demanded.

"Nothing," O'Hara mumbled taking a great deal of interest in the silverware she'd been given.

"Those looks don't mean 'Nothing'" Sam said.

"We just think you've been acting a little…" Gus started and then trailed off.

"Off, funny, weird, zany, peculiar." Shawn said drawing out the last syllable of peculiar.

"For your information Spencer," Sam said letting his voice drop a little. "I am in a perfectly good mood for once." Sam couldn't believe the stories he was fabricating, but if people's attitude around Lassiter in the police station had been any hint Lassiter didn't seem to have a good mood. Their food came at that moment distracting them from the current conversation. Either everyone forgot about it or they decided to let it go for the moment, because they ate the rest of the meal in silence except for Shawn's comments on the food or his random Spanish outbursts.

After lunch they headed back out to the cars. Shawn decided to ride with Gus and Sam made Juliet give him directions to the robbery scene. She seemed a little confused since Lassiter apparently had driven to the crime scene the day before, when the call had come in. They got to the house. There was crime scene tape across the front door. Sam walked in with O'Hara hoping that he wasn't going to be expected to make any deductions or solve a case. Thankfully no one paid attention to him. Shawn was doing some weird twisting dance move and Gus and Juliet were watching him.

"I can see it!" Shawn said throwing himself around the room. "Gus, oh Gus the pain it's too much." Sam watched as Shawn's face contorted with pain and he reached out for his friend. After a second Shawn stumbled over to where Sam was. He grabbed Sam's tie and half pulled, half dragged Sam to sit in one of the chairs. "This wasn't a robbery!" Shawn shouted putting his hands on Sam's head. "This was murder!" His eyes snapped wide open at the mention of murder. Sam shoved Shawn out of his way as he stood back up.

"What do you mean murder?" Sam asked.

"Shawn the homeowners are fine, they're just in Florida right now." Juliet added looking at something on the case file.

"Not the homeowners, someone else… something else?" Shawn said and then as if something were pulling him he went into the kitchen. Before Sam and Juliet could catch up with him Shawn was out in the backyard spinning in circles. He grabbed a shovel that was leaning against the railing to the deck. He swung it around a couple of times, Sam, Juliet and Gus made sure to stay back. With one final swing he stuck the shovel in the ground. "What ever it was, it's buried here."

"What are you talking about? That's a flower bed, the only thing buried there are flowers." Sam asked, but Juliet had already gone over and dug around in the dirt a little bit. Sam was still trying to get an answer when the shovel hit something with the sound of metal against metal. Juliet dug up a metal box. Sam noticed that it looked rather new despite the dirt. Shawn put his hands up to his temples.

"She's hurt." He said. "She's cold and lonely too." Juliet looked up at him and then opened the box expecting the worst. Inside was a china doll in pieces, a bunch of CDs and some jewelry.

"What's this?" Juliet said her face puzzled. Sam flipped open the case file he'd been reading.

"These were all on the list of things that had been stolen." He read through the list again. "In fact this is all the stuff that was stolen." He quirked an eyebrow and watched as Shawn give Gus a fist bump. "Good job Spencer." He said. Everyone got silent and then seemed to brush it off as more of Lassiter being 'Zany' that day.

"Sam!" Al's voice said as he appeared next to Sam. Sam jumped and looked over at Al. He missed Shawn giving Gus an 'I told you so' look. "I think Ziggy's figured everything out. C'mon we've got to go back to Lassiter's place." Sam started slowly backing up.

"I've just remembered something I have to do." He said still backing towards the door.

"Like what?" Juliet asked him.

"That one thing that umm I scheduled….." Sam said fumbling for an excuse. "O'Hara ride back to the station with them." Then he started running for his car. Once he was inside he turned to Al. "Al, what is it? Will I be able to leap soon?" Al shook his head.

"Nope, you're still here until Tuesday, but Ziggy now says there's a 95% chance you're supposed to do something with Lassiter's marriage." Sam hit the steering wheel in frustration.

"Al it doesn't make sense, you said Spencer is shot and killed on Tuesday." Al shrugged. "Well, what information do you have on the shooting?" Al punched a few buttons on his link and then sighed.

"Not much. The police report just says that Spencer and his friend Guster were out at Camp Tikihama with a few other people. There was some kind of altercation and one of the people at the camp with them ended up killing the rest of them before committing suicide."

"Can you check other records, like Spencer's phone records maybe? Did he call for help? He may be a 'psychic', but he doesn't strike me as stupid." Al nodded.

"I'll have Ziggy look at them, in the mean time you need to contact Lassiter's ex-wife. She's been trying to get him to sign divorce papers for years, but Lassiter refuses to. He made reservations at a nice restaurant for tomorrow night. There's a divorce case that-"

"That's great Al, just check those records." Sam interrupted him.

"But Sam this is-"

"I'll listen to your story later." Sam said. His cell phone rang and he was relieved when it was O'Hara. He answered it while getting an exasperated look from Al who gave up trying to talk to him and left. "Lassiter,"

"Carlton," O'Hara's voice said sounding very excited. "Shawn was right about the case. The neighbor's that were checking the mail for the homeowners just confessed. They accidentally broke the doll and rather than paying for it, it's worth almost five thousand dollars, they staged the robbery hoping the insurance would pay for the replacement."

"That's great O'Hara." Sam said a little distracted as he pulled into Lassiter's apartment complex. "I'll be back at the station later." He hung up the phone and started looking through Lassiter's apartment for all the things about his marriage.


	4. Chapter 4

"Carlton," Juliet said excited about the breakthrough in the case. She explained what had happened to him. She expected him to come down to the station to make the arrest himself, but he hung up before even asking if she'd done that yet. She turned to Shawn and Gus who were celebrating their latest case by building a tower out of Lassiter's case files on his desk. "That was weird….." She said looking at her phone.

"What's weird?" Gus said carefully placing a blue colored folder on the stack.

"Lassiter didn't even want to make the arrest." She said. Shawn was about to place the next folder on the pile, but slipped and spilled all the files on the floor.

"Didn't want to make the arrest?" Gus said helping Shawn pick up the files. "That is weird." Gus said. "Usually he wants to make an arrest before even investigating the case." O'Hara nodded in agreement. Shawn didn't say anything he was looking through a file that was in a different kind of folder then the rest of them.

"What's that?" Juliet asked.

"The answer to why Lassie has been so off lately." Shawn said. "Divorce papers, new ones dated last week."

"I thought things were going ok with his wife." Gus said. "Didn't he make fancy dinner reservations for tomorrow night?" Shawn nodded.

"You know our Lassie. He never wants to give up on anything."

* * *

Sam spent his afternoon waiting for Ziggy to get back with the phone records. He also went to the jewelry store and bought a necklace for Lassiter's wife. If he was supposed to be saving this marriage he knew he would have to make a good impression. He was at Lassiter's apartment trying to find pictures of his wife when Al appeared.

"Sam you were right, Shawn tried to call O'Hara six times while he was at the camp." He said. "There's no reason she wouldn't have answered her phone in the records though." Sam sighed.

"Alright, I just think I can save both Shawn and Lassiter's marriage." Sam said. He left for the station.

* * *

Sam made it through the door of the station and was almost to his desk when a voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Detective Lassiter, I'd like to see you in my office please." Sam turned to see a woman with short hair standing outside of an office with her hand on her hip. She didn't look happy. Sam slowly walked over to her and noticed a nameplate on the desk that read 'Chief Karen Vick'. "O'Hara just informed me that you left a crime scene in the middle of an investigation." The chief said once she had closed the door. Sam opened his mouth to object, but the chief continued. "She also said you seemed distracted and on top of that you missed the briefing this morning. Is everything alright Carlton?" her voice went from a scolding tone to one of concern. Sam nodded trying to act nonchalant.

"Everything's fine, I'm just not feeling like myself today." He said knowing at least that was a half truth. The chief looked at him as if trying to see if he was telling the truth.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again." She said and then excused him.

Sam nodded and then he went looking for Shawn. McNab stuttered that Shawn and Gus had left earlier. Sam tried calling their phones, but there was no answer. Sam sighed and decided to wait until the morning.

* * *

Sam made it to the psych office the next morning as Shawn and Gus were packing up the blue car that Gus drove.

"Spencer!" Sam yelled to get his attention. Shawn looked up and got a puzzled look on his face.

"What's cookin' Lassifrass?" He asked.

"You didn't answer your phone last night when I called." Sam said. Shawn shrugged.

"Gus and I were in an epic battle of DDR followed by Tivo'd episodes of _So You Think You Can Dance?_"

"Are you guys heading out to Camp Tikihama?" Sam asked changing the subject. Shawn gave Gus a funny look.

"Actually yes, we were just leaving." Gus said.

"Please, don't go out there." Sam said hoping that Shawn might listen. Shawn laughed a little.

"Why, what's going to happen at Camp Tikihama besides bad flash backs of Rick Astley paper mache?"

"Just something bad," Sam said not giving any specifics. Shawn laughed a little more.

"What are you psychic too now?" Shawn asked.

"Shawn something bad is going to happen if you go to that camp." Sam reiterated.

"Lassie, of all the weapons housed in the arsenal of your bad-assery we have marksman, great frowny face and finely toned Irish ass, thanks to all those late night runs you post about on your twitter." Shawn said ticking them off on his fingers. "We do not have psychic. That would be where my expertise lies." Shawn said pointing at himself and trying to be cheerful, but Sam could tell he was getting irritated by this point. With that Shawn climbed into the little blue car and the two psychic detectives drove off.

* * *

"What was that all about?" Gus asked Shawn as he drove them to Camp Tikihama. "Lassiter feeling concerned for your safety." Shawn shrugged.

"He's been weird since yesterday when he came to work late." They drove for a little while. Gus thought about things and then said.

"Maybe he was abducted by aliens."

"Aliens Gus? Really?" Shawn said rolling his eyes.

"Think about it. He's not himself, he's being really nice to you and he doesn't seem to be a cop. I mean the only other test we could give him is to see if he could shoot a gun."

"Or maybe we could stab him with a stake and see if he's a vampire, the Dracula kind not the sparkly ones from that movie with the kid who played Harry Potter." Shawn said.

"Twilight Shawn and that kid didn't play Harry Potter he was just in the Harry Potter movie." Gus corrected him. They proceeded to argue about Harry Potter the rest of the way to the camp and Gus' theory about aliens was forgotten.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam stood in the parking lot of the Psych office for a few minutes trying to figure out how he was going to fix this. He ran a hand through his hair and then pulled out his cell phone. Al had said Spencer had tried to call O'Hara several times. He dialed her number and waited for her to answer.

"Carlton?" O'Hara's voice asked over the phone, she sounded confused.

"What are you doing tonight?" Sam asked her, getting straight to the point.

"I was going to go visit my parents and have dinner." She said.

"Cancel those plans." Sam snapped. "You have to be available tonight."

"What? Why?" She asked sounding a little bit angry now.

"Something is going to happen tonight and Spencer will need your help." There must have been something in the tone of Sam's voice and the odd behavior she'd seen him display over the past two days because after a minute of silence Sam heard a small sigh and then.

"Alright, I'll make sure I have my phone with me." She said.

"Thank you." Sam managed to say before she hung up. Al appeared at Sam's side. "Al, why haven't I leapt yet?" Sam asked him getting into Lassiter's car. Al was punching calculations into his link. He glanced up at Sam.

"Ziggy says you aren't done yet. There's still something you have to do."

"I saved Spencer's life right? Check the papers." Al nodded.

"Yes, there are still some deaths at the camp tonight, but Spencer and Guster survive and they catch the man who did it." Al said "But there's still Lassiter's dinner with his wife tonight."

"Right, dinner tonight." Sam said checking his watch. "Thanks for reminding me Al." With that Sam left for the restaurant. He arrived extremely early. He wasn't sure where the place was and he didn't figure Lassiter to be the type to be late.

When he walked through the door there was no one else in the dining area. He mumble an apology to the host and headed for the bar. He had bought flowers and had the necklace tucked in the pocket of his jacket. He decided to take off his tie last minute in the car so at least he would feel more relaxed.

The only other person in the bar was a woman sipping a martini. Sam recognized her immediately from the single picture he had found in Lassiter's apartment.

"Victoria," he said breaking the silence. She started and looked up at him.

"Carlton, you're here early." Sam shrugged. They sat in the bar for a while. Sam knew nothing about Lassiter's marriage other than the details Al had told him from the newspaper announcement Ziggy had found. After the longest hour Sam had ever experienced Lassiter's name was called and they went to sit at their table. He ordered some wine and once they had placed their food orders silence once again descended on them. Sam opened his mouth to say something at the same time Victoria did. She shut her mouth and motioned for him to continue. Sam took a deep breath.

"I know I haven't been the best husband. I close myself in with my emotions and try to hide them from the ones I love, but I'm ready for a new start. I want to restart. I want a second chance at a first impression. I'm ready to begin wearing my heart on my sleeve as they say." Sam reached in his pocket and pulled out the jewelry box. He set it gently on the table and opened it facing Victoria. "So from a man who has nothing to hide, I give you this." He smiled a little waiting for her reaction. He had expected joy or relief or anything that would be considered a positive emotion. He hadn't expected what came next.

"Oh God," Victoria breathed under her breath.

"I know it's a lot, but you know I've been working overtime and saving some cash." Sam said. She shook her head.

"No, I don't think you understand." She took a breath. "I think I didn't make myself clear. I asked you to dinner tonight to give you this." Victoria pulled a pale blue folder out of her purse and pushed it into Sam's hands. "Divorce papers, I had my attorney draw them up this morning. They're a little different than the last ones so you should read them over again." Sam stared in shock at the folder in his hands.

"I'll be right back." He said abruptly. He stood and made a quick getaway to the bathroom. He checked the stalls and then leaned against the counter where the sinks were. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. Lassiter's clear blue, grey eyes looked back at him. He ran a hand through his hair and then shut his eyes for a minute. When he opened them he could see Al standing behind him. "What do you want?" He asked Al. "Can't you see I'm having a hard time saving his marriage?" He pointed at the mirror where Lassiter's reflection pointed back at him.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time Sam." Al said patiently. "You aren't here to save his marriage. You're here to sign the divorce papers."

"I'm supposed to sign these?" Sam asked holding up the folder.

"Yes! Doofus! That's what I've been trying to tell you since you got here." Al said exasperated finally getting through to Sam. "Lassiter didn't sign the papers last time. He ended up being involved in a huge divorce case for the next four years. It ruined him financially, it ended his career and when you combine that with Spencer's death it pushed him over the edge and he ended up committing suicide. Ziggy says there's a 98% chance that if you sign the papers tonight Lassiter will be back solving cases with Spencer before the end of the month." Sam sighed and looked at the folder in his hands.

"Thanks Al." He said and then headed back out to the table. Victoria was gone. Sam assumed she had gone to the bathroom as well. He pulled a pen out of his breast pocket and signed the papers. He was a little surprised when he didn't feel the immediate pull in his stomach that meant he was going to leap again, but didn't have time to dwell on it because at that moment Victoria reappeared.

"Carlton you knew this was coming," she started to say. Sam held up his hand.

"It's alright. I signed them while you were in the bathroom." She looked at him doubtfully and then grabbed the folder and looked through them. "Two years ago you would have lit them on fire."

"Two years ago I would have lit them on fire and put them in your purse." Sam corrected her. He stood up from the table. She stood in front of him and placed her hands on the lapel of his jacket.

"I don't think I'll ever stop loving you." She said and then leaned up and kissed him gently. Sam shook his head.

"This is for both of us. I'm letting you go so we both can move on with our lives." With that Victoria gathered her bag and left the restaurant. Sam sighed heavily. In all his leaps that was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. He kept expecting to leap any minute, but it never came. He went back to Lassiter's apartment and fell asleep.

* * *

When he hadn't leapt by morning he was afraid something had gone wrong. He dressed quickly and went to the station. His first thought was that Spencer had still been killed the previous night. A wave of horror struck him. What if O'Hara had gone out there too and also been killed.

"Lassie!" Spencer's voice yelled as soon as he made it through the station's double doors. Sam sighed in relief. "You look awful." Shawn said. Sam shrugged.

"Are you two ok?" he asked looking around for Guster.

"Yeah, Gus and I are fine. Jules is too, but she's taking the day off."

"What was she doing up at Tikihama with you?" Sam asked scowling a little at the thought he could have put the junior detective in peril.

"We called her because there was a murdering psychopath at the camp." Gus said, clearly not pleased about the entire situation. "We had to be here to give our statements again about what happened and why there were three bodies at Camp Tikihama." Shawn had kept quiet and was looking at Sam very closely.

"You know Lassie, if I didn't know better I might think that these past couple of days you've been channeling my psychic vibes."

"Don't be ridiculous Spencer. I didn't have any of your 'visions' and I didn't dance around the room and invade people's personal space." Sam snapped still a little tired from the night before. "Just pay attention next time I try to tell you something. Ok?" He asked when neither of them responded. Shawn gave him a silly salute.

"Aye, aye Detective, now I vote we go get some smoothies." With that he started for the station door followed closely by Gus. Sam shook his head and went to go to his desk when that familiar sensation hit his stomach.

A blinding flash of light ended and Sam found himself astride a horse. He looked down to see he was wearing full western wear and then heard the gun fire behind him. He shook his head.

"Oh Boy!" He groaned.

The End


End file.
